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HOUSTON — Rory McIlroy is a tinkerer.
Whether it's his swing or his schedule, he's not much different from other golfers always trying to find a way to win. This offseason, he locked himself inside for three weeks to change his swing's shape. He has tried to emulate Scottie Scheffler's course management and strategy. And when it comes to his schedule, he always seems to change it up before the trip down Magnolia Lane.
That's no different this year. The world No. 2 is in the Lone Star State for the 2025 Texas Children's Houston Open, the first of two events in Texas leading up to the Masters. It's his first time playing the Houston Open since 2014, when the event was one week before the year's first major. The tournament moved back to the spring portion of the PGA Tour's schedule last year, and with that Memorial Park Golf Course more closely emulates conditions the world's best will face at Augusta National, and McIlroy took notice.
"I've watched this tournament the last couple years, especially since it moved to this date instead of the fall, and felt like it was a golf course that would be right up my alley and would suit my game and suit my style of play," McIlroy said. "Good to get a look at the golf course the last couple days. Excited to just sort of just keep going, you know. It's been a great start to the season for me and I want to continue that."
McIlroy is off to one of his best starts to a season in his career. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and last week he beat J.J. Spaun in a three-hole aggregate playoff to win his second Players Championship. It's the first time in his career he has won twice before April. And heading into the Masters, he is switching up his prep again.
You'd have to go back to the 2018-19 seasons, when McIlroy played the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play as his final start before Augusta National, for the last time he has played the same event in consecutive years as his final tournament before the Masters. With a green jacket separating him from the grand slam, golfers to win all four major championships, the spotlight shines brighter on McIlroy this time of year, but 2025 seems different.
More: Why Texas Children's Houston Open is pivotal for this amateur's Masters prep
McIlroy took a scouting trip to Augusta National on Monday before traveling to Houston. He then will take next week off before heading down Magnolia Lane for attempt No. 11 at the grand slam. The trip was in an attempt to refamiliarize himself with the course and adjust to any changes.
"There's four greens that are new this year that they've redone," McIlroy said. "You just sort of, you have a look at those and see if there's any new hole positions they give you, stuff like that. Honestly for me, it's nice to play a practice round without people around and it sort of takes the pressure off the start of the week for me. There's a lot of obligations; there's big commitments whether it be from media or the Par-3 tournament on Wednesday. I just like to get up there and feel like I'm not rushed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the week of the tournament, and that's usually the reason I go there (early)."
But first, McIlroy will get his first shot at Memorial Park, a place world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, a two-time Masters winner, has succeeded at, as well as other bombers on Tour like Tony Finau, among others. Last year, Scheffler and Finau finished T-2, one stroke behind eventual champion Stephan Jaeger. Scheffler missed a 5-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to force a playoff.
On Tuesday, Finau said Memorial Park, a municipal venue just a couple miles west of downtown Houston, is the perfect golf course for players to get Masters prep on. He was one of many who raved about the course last year and predicted the field would get stronger in the future. McIlroy is one of multiple who added it to their schedule.
"A lot of the chipping is very similar to what we're going to face in a couple weeks' time," McIlroy said. "I just thought there were a couple different things about the golf course that would not only fit my game and what I do well, but also, yeah, looking with one eye ahead to a couple weeks' time, is there certain things that I would face here that would be somewhat good prep or good practice going into the first major of the year."
Augusta National is on McIlroy's mind, but he's not losing focus of the task at hand this week.
"I just want to get a card in my hand and shoot scores and hopefully get myself in contention and try to win another golf tournament," McIlroy said. "It's not as if I'm playing here this week and thinking about two weeks' time. I'm here, I'm in the present, I'm trying to do my best this week and trying to win this golf tournament."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ahead of Masters, Rory McIlroy focused on winning Houston Open 2025
Continue reading...
Whether it's his swing or his schedule, he's not much different from other golfers always trying to find a way to win. This offseason, he locked himself inside for three weeks to change his swing's shape. He has tried to emulate Scottie Scheffler's course management and strategy. And when it comes to his schedule, he always seems to change it up before the trip down Magnolia Lane.
That's no different this year. The world No. 2 is in the Lone Star State for the 2025 Texas Children's Houston Open, the first of two events in Texas leading up to the Masters. It's his first time playing the Houston Open since 2014, when the event was one week before the year's first major. The tournament moved back to the spring portion of the PGA Tour's schedule last year, and with that Memorial Park Golf Course more closely emulates conditions the world's best will face at Augusta National, and McIlroy took notice.
"I've watched this tournament the last couple years, especially since it moved to this date instead of the fall, and felt like it was a golf course that would be right up my alley and would suit my game and suit my style of play," McIlroy said. "Good to get a look at the golf course the last couple days. Excited to just sort of just keep going, you know. It's been a great start to the season for me and I want to continue that."
McIlroy is off to one of his best starts to a season in his career. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and last week he beat J.J. Spaun in a three-hole aggregate playoff to win his second Players Championship. It's the first time in his career he has won twice before April. And heading into the Masters, he is switching up his prep again.
You'd have to go back to the 2018-19 seasons, when McIlroy played the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play as his final start before Augusta National, for the last time he has played the same event in consecutive years as his final tournament before the Masters. With a green jacket separating him from the grand slam, golfers to win all four major championships, the spotlight shines brighter on McIlroy this time of year, but 2025 seems different.
More: Why Texas Children's Houston Open is pivotal for this amateur's Masters prep
McIlroy took a scouting trip to Augusta National on Monday before traveling to Houston. He then will take next week off before heading down Magnolia Lane for attempt No. 11 at the grand slam. The trip was in an attempt to refamiliarize himself with the course and adjust to any changes.
"There's four greens that are new this year that they've redone," McIlroy said. "You just sort of, you have a look at those and see if there's any new hole positions they give you, stuff like that. Honestly for me, it's nice to play a practice round without people around and it sort of takes the pressure off the start of the week for me. There's a lot of obligations; there's big commitments whether it be from media or the Par-3 tournament on Wednesday. I just like to get up there and feel like I'm not rushed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the week of the tournament, and that's usually the reason I go there (early)."
But first, McIlroy will get his first shot at Memorial Park, a place world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, a two-time Masters winner, has succeeded at, as well as other bombers on Tour like Tony Finau, among others. Last year, Scheffler and Finau finished T-2, one stroke behind eventual champion Stephan Jaeger. Scheffler missed a 5-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to force a playoff.
On Tuesday, Finau said Memorial Park, a municipal venue just a couple miles west of downtown Houston, is the perfect golf course for players to get Masters prep on. He was one of many who raved about the course last year and predicted the field would get stronger in the future. McIlroy is one of multiple who added it to their schedule.
"A lot of the chipping is very similar to what we're going to face in a couple weeks' time," McIlroy said. "I just thought there were a couple different things about the golf course that would not only fit my game and what I do well, but also, yeah, looking with one eye ahead to a couple weeks' time, is there certain things that I would face here that would be somewhat good prep or good practice going into the first major of the year."
Augusta National is on McIlroy's mind, but he's not losing focus of the task at hand this week.
"I just want to get a card in my hand and shoot scores and hopefully get myself in contention and try to win another golf tournament," McIlroy said. "It's not as if I'm playing here this week and thinking about two weeks' time. I'm here, I'm in the present, I'm trying to do my best this week and trying to win this golf tournament."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ahead of Masters, Rory McIlroy focused on winning Houston Open 2025
Continue reading...
